


Can you fill the silence?

by Resa_Saso



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-27
Updated: 2017-09-27
Packaged: 2019-01-06 05:45:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12205068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Resa_Saso/pseuds/Resa_Saso
Summary: The Doctor didn't imagine bringing Gallifrey back like this. After being trapped in his own confession dial for more than a billion years, he ends up chased on his home planet. Until the Master finds him. | S9 AU with Ten & Simm!Master





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Now, before I get crucified - When I watched Hell Bent, I was surprised by the lack of trauma Moffat brought into the episode. Spending billions of years trapped in your own secrets and chased by a big black monster, all on your own, it leaves some marks, even on the Doctor. That's why I decided to write a bit hurt & comfort. BUT I'm writing it with Ten & Simm, simply because when I imagined the scenes, I did it in my Doctor's POV and I don't want to change it now so it fits into canon. It's AU. If you can't see it happen with anyone other than Twelve, simply don't read. 
> 
> So, to put anything in an order: Gallifrey got time locked, Gallifrey was brought back, the Doctor has no idea the Master is still alive - And the rest would only spoiler you, so let's not!
> 
> Enjoy! :)

 

 

‘Tell me how.’  
The Doctor made some indistinct noises through his gag, but when Rassilon removed it, he simply grinned in his face.  
‘I was saying’, he pointed out, ‘that I can’t tell you anything while you have me gagged. Thank you very much for proving my point.’  
The Lord President huffed.  
‘Very funny, Doctor. Now talk.’  
It was sad, really. He had often imagined how it’d feel to get Gallifrey back from the flames. He had thought he’d be happy, finally feeling home again on the red, bright planet, instead of feeling suffocated.  
But here he was, tied and secured to a chair, looking into Rassilon’s face, which contained nothing but hatred for him.  
The humans had a perfectly fitting saying for this, he couldn’t help but smile while remembering.  
Home sweet home.  
‘You think this is funny?’ Rassilon asked to know in a cold, biting tone.  
The Doctor flinched.  
‘I told you,’ he finally spoke softly. ‘I told you a thousand times. You don’t want to know. You don’t want to know how I ended Gallifrey, how it felt, what it looked like. You don’t want to know about the screams I heard in my mind, I can still hear them now.’  
‘Yes, Doctor, I do, that is why I’m asking. Tell me. Tell me, how you did it. Tell me how you restored our planet.’  
But the captive Time Lord simply shook his head.  
Glaring, the Lord President narrowed his grey eyes to slits, so bitter and filled with despise, it made the Doctor shiver.  
‘As you wish,’ he growled. ‘Than I’ll find another way to make you speak.’  
The Doctor watched the other Time Lord with attentive eyes. As soon as he had left the room and the door was shut behind him, he started trying to free himself. It wasn’t easy, reliving the events of the Time War, the Time Lock he had put Gallifrey under, but he could, if he wanted. He would be able to tell his President everything that had happened, including how he lifted the Lock again. But something in his very core protested, whenever he even thought about it. The Doctor knew, he’d have to keep it a secret. Something wasn’t quite right here and it involved Rassilon.  
When the Ancient returned, he held in his hand something narrow, golden, shimmering in the lights of the candles around them. The Doctor stared at it with a _really_ bad feeling.  
When Rassilon noticed, he held it up in front of his eyes, a broad grin on his face.  
‘Your confession dial,’ he explained coldly.  
The Doctor swallowed. You shouldn’t be able to even touch this, he thought.  
You’re misusing your power, he thought.  
This was meant for the Master, he thought.  
He kept his silence.  
Rassilon raised the hand with his confession dial a bit higher, waved it a bit in his face, his grey eyes watching the Doctor carefully.  
‘This is your last chance, Doctor,’ he finally stated. ‘You either talk now… Or you’ll keep your silence.’  
The captive Time Lord looked up to his Lord President with wide eyes, but completely muted.  
Rassilon shook his head and it would’ve seemed like a saddened gesture, if it wasn’t for the big, smug grin on his face.  
‘As you wish,’ he spoke and his tone sounded final. ‘Then you’ll be locked inside your own confession dial, chased by your own judge until you decide to speak, Doctor.’  
‘Why?’ he wanted to know, clearly in desperate disbelief. ‘Why do you need to know so urgently? Why does it matter?’  
‘Exactly, Doctor!’ Rassilon gave back, his face so close to the Doctor’s now, he could watch his eyebrows furrow in disturbing detail. ‘Why does it matter? Why don’t you tell me?’  
‘Because you want to know,’ the Doctor retorted calmly. ‘And I can tell it’s for nothing good.’  
Rassilon stared at him for a few seconds, clearly lost in thoughts, then smiled.  
‘So it’ll be,’ he finally said. ‘Any last words, Doctor? No?’  
Chin up, eyes sparkling with defiance, the Doctor stayed silent.  
The Lord President shook his head at his determination and stepped to his desk, where The Hand of Omega waited for him. The Doctor’s eyes widened when he saw the powerful weapon.  
In the wrong hands, he couldn’t help but think. Once again in the wrong hands.  
And then his world went black.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Master and the wild one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll add the second one right after, because the first one was so short!

****  
  


Something was wrong. The Master noticed the second he got up. His eyes narrowed, he went to his window, staring out to the dark forests around the house. The last lingers of darkness were still visible, fighting against the bright red of two rising suns, but the Master had no eye for the beauty of it.  
There were people in front of his door, back to the wood, facing away from his house. He didn’t hesitate long, grabbed his clothes and made his way downstairs to find out what was going on.  
When he ripped open the door, both guards – because that’s what they were, wasn’t it? – flinched. They turned to him with open fear in their eyes.  
‘I truly hope, gentlemen, there’s a good reason you’re guarding my entrance door?’  
They exchanged a look, which only led to him regarding them with a carefully raised eyebrow.  
Finally, one of them seemed to find the confidence to speak.  
‘It’s… an order by the Lord President himself, Sir!’ he explained with a short salute.  
The Master’s second eyebrow joined his other one.  
‘Rassilon?’  
The other guard nodded. ‘You see, there’s a wild one in the forests, it says.’  
‘A wild one?’ the Master asked curiously.  
‘Yes. Nobody knows where he comes from and how he got on Gallifrey… But he is dangerous, you see, has been attacking Gallifreyans and even Time Lords, Sir… It’s our duty to guard the inhabitants of the city and get him caught!’  
The Master couldn’t supress a light chuckle. ‘You think, _I_ need protection? And who’s going to protect the poor sod if he tries to attack me?’  
The left guard laughed softly. ‘That’s what we said, too.’  
‘Then why are you here?’ sighed the Master.  
They exchanged another look.  
‘The Lord President insisted, Sir! Said it was very likely the wild one would find his way here. Please do inform us if you notice anything weird, will you, Sir? We need to get him as soon as possible!’  
The Master examined them for a few seconds, then shrugged. ‘I don’t want any guards in front of my door,’ he pointed out. ‘Get lost.’  
‘But…’ one of them stuttered. ‘Sir…’  
‘The correct title is “Master”. Off you go. And give Rassilon my best wishes. I’m sure he’ll be delighted.’  
They exchanged one last look, then seemed to wordlessly decide that Rassilon was the lesser evil. Backwardly, they stumbled off his lands, then turned around and hurried away. The Master watched them for a little while with a slight frown on his face.  
‘A wild one…’ he murmured.  
Knowing Rassilon, there simply had to be something going on. A wild one, on Gallifrey, and no one knew how he had gotten here? Unlikely.  
So? An escaped prisoner? Someone that had to be back in Rassilon’s clutches as soon as possible? More likely.  
He smirked.  
Someone who was able to undermine Rassilon’s shaky administration? More than likely. That at least would explain why his house had been guarded over night.  
‘Scared much, Rassilon?’  
He chuckled and let his gaze wander to the dark trees and pines near his premises.  
He nearly missed them.  
Two eyes, opened wide, curious and a bit nervous, gazing back.  
The Master narrowed his own eyes, tried to recognize what was staring at him hidden behind the dark trunks and leaves.  
‘Hey!’ The Master called as soon as he realized it was a man – Clothes dirty and torn, face covered in smut and hands clinging to one of the trunks as if he was close to either fall to the ground or run away from him. ‘It’s okay. I’m not going to give you away. Who are you?’  
He didn’t receive an answer, but the man wasn’t running away either, just staring at him with wide, brown eyes. Slowly, step for step, the Master drew near, one hand stretched out before him, as if he was calming down an animal.  
A wild one, indeed. But shakenly he let go of the trunk and took one hesitating step towards the Master. They stood right in front of each other now. Both let their hands sink slowly.  
He tried again. ‘I’m the Master,’ he said. ‘What is your name?’  
His opponent flinched, but didn’t answer.  
The Master frowned. So, someone who clearly knew, who he was couldn’t be regarded a wild one, no matter how torn his clothes. And though he didn’t want to communicate with him, he seemed to understand Gallifreyan.  
 The Time Lord thought for a second, feeling the other’s curious eyes on him. This man in front of him wasn’t wild, he probably was even a Time Lord. He hadn’t got the slightest clue what Rassilon wanted from the man, but he knew it was nothing good – Usually he was the first to appreciate dark intentions, but not when it came to Rassilon and his rotten administration. Maybe, he could find a way to use the stranger for his own purposes, if he could only bring him to talk.  
He smiled.  
‘I live right up here,’ he explained, pointing towards his house. ‘You can hide here, if you want to. These guards won’t show up again anytime soon.’  
He seemed doubtful, threw one sceptical look to the house behind him, then back to his face. The Master held out his hand.  
‘I’ll help you. You’re obviously working against Rassilon. Well, so am I.’  
His eyes were intelligent, he noticed. Nervous and obviously traumatized, but there was something in there that made him believe that this person’s brain wasn’t scattered yet.  
Finally, he nodded.  
It was such an unremarkable, soft movement, the Master could’ve missed it with a blink.  
But he had never been someone to miss important details, so he nodded as well and offered the stranger an arm.  
To his surprise, he took it.  
His steps on the red grass were trembling and shaky. The Master supported him as good as he could, while throwing nervous glances around. But no one seemed to watch them and with a sigh of relief they finally reached his door.  
He tossed it open and led the stranger in.  
He seemed weirdly wrong inside his clean, elegant home. The Master brought him to his comfortable, black sofa and helped him sit down reluctantly.  
Well, he had to get that cleaned up soon, anyway.  
The Master frowned down on the shaking figure beneath him and sighed. ‘I’ll get you a blanket and some tea – you do drink tea, do you? –, so we can pep you up a bit, but you will need to take a bath. Sooner rather than later,’ he added with a snort.  
It was funny – These eyes. He couldn’t help it. The weird, stinking, mute stranger had something in his eyes that made him think about them the whole staircase back up to his bedroom.  
Something in the way they had lit up when he mentioned tea.  



End file.
